which they had attained, and the rather because in the tombs of this period small pieces of woollen stuff are found, probably the remains of entire garments which have rotted away in the earth, and which are still woven in a very simple manner. Yet it is possible that these dresses were occasionally very neat and tasteful, for had they not been so the ornaments would not have produced suitable effect. At the same time it is by no means assumed that garments of skins or hides were never used; as from the nature of the climate if from no other cause, the inhabitants were compelled to wear furs, which of course were easily to be obtained in the country itself. The garments were either fastened together by double buttons, which resembled the studs or shirt buttons now in use, or by buckles or fibulæ, formed of two round plates of metal, connected by a small bar of iron, something resembling the shape of our spectacles, at the back part of which was placed a pin. Buckles or fibulae also occur of different forms; they are sometimes made of a bent piece of metal, and are provided with a spiral-shaped spring, ending in a pointed pin, which enters an aperture fitted to receive it.
All these weapons and ornaments of bronze which we have here considered, when first discovered are usually covered with a greenish rust. On the rust being removed, the bronze is found to be so beautiful a metal that it might easily be mistaken for gold, did we not know that gold never rusts, however long it may be buried in the earth. Gold, however, as appears from our previous remarks on the inlaying of swords, helmets, and buttons, was by no means unknown at this time[1]. It was used both for bracelets and rings for the fingers, which are often formed of gold wire twisted in a
- ↑ The gold gorget from Dublin, described by Mr. Birch in his learned dissertation on the Torc of the Celts, in vol. iii. of the Archæological Journal, belongs to this period, as do also many of the gold ornaments found both in England and Ireland. A very interesting list of objects similar to the gorget in question, with the particulars of the several localities in which they
